Serge Ibaka benefiting from full season with Raptors; will be key in playoff run
TORONTO — Serge Ibaka had barely played alongside Kyle Lowry when the Toronto Raptors opened the playoffs last season.
The big man was acquired at the trade deadline, and played the final 23 games of the regular season for Toronto. But Lowry was out with a hand injury and didn’t rejoin the team until four games before the playoffs tipped off.
The Raptors had envisioned Ibaka helping them past LeBron James and the Cavaliers, but with little time to jell, it just didn’t happen.
“It was more difficult than we thought especially when pressure hit,” coach Dwane Casey said. “When you don’t know the nuances or know each other well, it’s more difficult in those situations. We had to simplify some things last year just because of P.J. (Tucker) and Serge coming in . . . I probably didn’t do a good job of integrating them in quick enough.”